Okay FJ, Im going to dish out my own theory here (inb4 nobody cares about your opinion)
I believe ALL drugs are gateway drugs. that includes Marijuana. Now before any of you 420 fags get uppity, put your pipe down and listen the **** up (I know thats hard for most of you because you love to regurgitate all the ******** "facts" you get off the internet and other stoners). The reason Marijuana is a gateway drug is because its a drug most people are comfortable with, I mean how can you not be comfortable with it. It does very minimal damage to your body and its easy and cheap to get, plus most people around you (in highschool and middle school and sometimes college) do it. So since its no very bad for you, you decide to try it. Now, NOT ALL PEOPLE WHO SMOKE WEED PROGRESS INTO HARDER DRUGS! THAT IS A FACT! BUT, Marijuana is still a gateway drug because wellll over 50% of people who are into harder drugs had started off with Marijuana and wanted to experiment farther, therefore making it a gateway drug. Thats why its called GATEWAY! because it opens up a door for you to do other drugs, you can choose to go through that door or stay where you are. Now stay with me here, alllll other drugs are also gateway drugs. I, for example, am one of the minorities of people who did NOT start off my drug experiences with weed. I actually HATE weed,, I think its horrid. When I was younger, I actually started out with pills because too me, pot heads looked trashy and stupid to me, so I chose pills instead (I was younger). Popping, snortin, you name it. Then from the various pills I took, it lead me into other drugs like Shrooms and then I eventually tried weed, and I still dislike weed. ANYWAY, my point is every drug is a gateway drug, so 420 fags quit bein butthurt when people call marijuana a gateway drug because it is. Rant over, thumb how you want, I couldn't care less.

Science disagrees with you.
Most people who do hard drugs have smoked weed, however around 5% of people who have smoked weed have moved on to harder drugs. You're attributing the marijuana to the moving on, where statistically it's those people's natural tendencies that move them there. Another example of this is the claim that violent TV promotes violence. While most people who are violent adults watched violent TV, people who watch violent TV are only slightly more likely to be violent adults. It's a false attribution. While it may be a "gateway" to some people, if marijuana didn't exist they would merely start with the next low risk illegal drug.

i think it depends more on were you're from and the kind of environment you grow up in..most people i know(i live in a small town) have done weed for years and still have no desire to do harder drugs, while my cousin who lives in a city knows a lot of people who had moved on to harder drugs

Dude you're so right. Going through high school I saw my once circle of friends get into pot, I with them at that point. I remember my first time, saying, "Oh yeah just once."

There is no just once. After 20 times you feel your head is cloudy if you apply your brain to tasks; those who don't work hard in school (the only real indicator of how far gone you are) didn't have the same problem as me and then they just "tried" 'shrooms, and after that phase it was M, and now cocaine use is no biggie. This is a group that's expanded to probably 25. It's ******, and it all started with weed.

oh dear god you're making the same argument as all the others. Im sorry if I soun angry but its irritating that none of you are truly reading what im typing. I stated that not all smokers of weed go onto harder drugs, but its a GATEWAY! gateway means it opens a door for you and you choose if you want to step through it or not. Its not a "gateway that you get shoved into". read what I typed please.

No, he's right, it was because of the weed high i became open to experience "better" highs. Ive done MDMA & Shrooms, however you just need to know when to stop. Those 3 are the only ones ill do, they all feel amazing in their own way :D

True that man. I burn on the somewhat regular, but because i first became open to trees, i became more open and ventured into psychedelics. Ive done shrooms, LSD, MDMA and DMT, but i wouldnt really consider DMT as something for recreational use, for me, that is strictly for spiritual experiences, times of meditation, but thats where i draw my line, only the occasional trip, like when i went to go see Further (Bob Weir, Phil Lesh & 5 other dudes all playing Dead songs) i was so tripped out, hory shet

I understand what you are trying to say but nothing will change if it is illegal or legal. People will still get a hold of drugs and do them. People do smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol and those are drugs but it doesn't necessarily make every smoker or drinker want to try different types of drugs. I don't do drugs but i'm just saying neither of our opinions matter.

Actually, if alcohol and cigarettes never existed, then personally I think that drugs would really be that much less of a topic, less people would be conditioned to think "Hey, having my mood changed by a substance feels pretty OK. I wonder what something stronger would feel like?" Which is a very good approximation of what goes on at the subconscious level. This is not really a philosophical issue, nor do soon-to-be drug addicts approach the topic as such. Focusing on the broad strokes: people may have tendencies towards addictive behavior from birth, but these are the minority of today's abusers; the real 'Problem' is when non-inclined, potentially productive people in society are conditioned to think in such a way that encourages them to abuse substances that cause them to dysfunction.

but they have the potential. you didn't read all I wrote and if you did then you don't understand it. A gateway drug is a drug that opens a door for you, you choose to go through the door or not. all drugs are gateway drugs.

Your right not all drugs can be a gateway drug. Although it is a personal choice to do those harder drugs. Those drugs may influence the decision you make but unless they make the decision not to do drugs in the first place they will have a hard time getting away from those addicting drugs. The only way to not to be addicted is not to do them in the first place.

It isn't just a smartass comment. That's the logic behind making marijuana a "gateway drug". Check the percentage of people who smoke it and don't go after harder drugs and then the percentage of people on heavy drugs who started with marihuana. If you base your point of view on the first you'll find that marihuana isn't a gateway drug. If you base it on the second then it looks like it is.

That is a problem with the current situation of Marijuana. This is just my logic speaking, so don't take any of it as fact, but marijuana is only a gateway drug because it's illegal.
Similar to the Prohibition, marijuana is now illegal, which when people do it illegally, they want more. The main difference between smoking weed and drinking alcohol is that people are too stupid to realize that drinking alcohol gets you drunk, but using depressants causes similar effects. Because it's not the same substance, they think "Well, alcohol is a liquid, and barbiturates aren't, so they can't be the same thing!"
Stoners who progress through the drugs are just looking for that next high, and the better one, so who's to say that alcoholics wouldn't do the same thing if they weren't ******* retarded?
In 90 years or so, when people don't really remember marijuana being illegal, it will be just like alcohol. They'll think "it's a plant, and the other things are pills, it must be much better!"